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George Washington 

Statement of Richard Parkinson 

[Lincolnshire Farmer] 



THE LORD BALTIMORE PRESS 
1909 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two CoDies Recerved 

FEB 3 1809 

Copyrliint tntry 
OlrtSS Ck^ XXc, !Vo. 
CCjHY a. ' 



Copyright, 1909, by 
A. J. MORRISON 






CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 

Preface 5 

Statement of Richard Parkinson 9 

Notes 29 

Addendum [Richard Parkinson] 36 



PREFACE 

Ac prius ignotum ferro quam scindimus aequor, 
Ventos et varium coeli praediscere morem 
Cura sit, ac patrios cultusque habitusque locorum; 
Et quid quaeque ferat regio, et quid quaeque recuset. 

Virgil: Georgia, I, v. SO. 

The Book of the Farm, that wonderful treatise 
published about 1842 by Henry Stephens, must have 
caused many people, whether or not engaged in farm- 
ing, to reflect that the business of agriculture is rightly 
a very special work, scarcely possible in advance of a 
solidarity in the state, and that if anything, good land 
is a worse asset than poor land in that case. In Rich- 
ard Parkinson's two volumes,* extracts from which are 
given here, it is evident throughout how uncomfortable 
the highly trained man must be in a new country if he 

* A Tour in America in 1798, 1799 and 1800. Exhibiting Sketches of 
Society and Manners and a Particular Account of the American System 
of Agriculture, with its Recent Improvements. By Richard Parkinson 
(Late of Orange Hill, near Baltimore). London, 1805. 2 vols. Vol. I, 
pp. 1-5; 37-63; 78-79; 160. Vol. H, pp. 425-441; 611-612. 



6 Statement of Richard Parkinson 

is without the scientific imagination, if, for example, he 
cannot see that forty acres of land lately forest present 
opportunities different from forty acres in Cheshire or 
in Kent. Parkinson had capital which he might have 
used in many ways to good advantage, and yet he could 
not get out of his head that it must be applied in some 
strictly regularized way. The idea of America, except 
among the philosophers, was slow in finding lodgment; 
meanwhile, the most useful immigrant was the man 
with little or no capital, who was compelled to adapt 
himself. 

After the Revolution travellers from Europe came in 
numbers to inspect the new world. Not until 1794, 
with Dr. Thomas Cooper of Manchester, was there 
much attempt at appraisal (on the plan of Dr. Frank- 
lin's Questions and Answers), with the specific purpose 
of encouraging immigration from Europe. Richard 
Parkinson, the forerunner of Birkbeck and Cobbett, was 
doubtless inspired of Dr. Cooper, although he is scorn- 
ful of that learned man's judgment in the item of lands. 
Parkinson was almost the first among foreigners to reg- 
ister a general dislike of this country. Nothing pleased 
him in the polity, and he wrote his book to warn immi- 



Statement of Richard Parkinson 7 

grants off. However, he met with much kindness in 
America, and is not chary in admiration of individuals. 
He knew his business thoroughly, had an eye for char- 
acter, and there are to be found few more direct pieces 
of writing than his book of complaints. His impres- 
sions of George Washington are perhaps all the more 
interesting from the fact of his disappointment in the 
capabilities of the River Farm as it appeared to the 
specialist from the land of specialties. What astounded 
Parkinson was Washington's exact justice and scrupu- 
lous habits of business, and the conclusion is no doubt 
the just one, if conspicuous character is ever to be ex- 
plained, that it was those qualities which enabled 
Washington to accomplish his work. 

Time has proved Richard Parkinson wrong in his 
estimate of the lands he saw, and has confirmed the 
opinion of the owner of the River Farm — that nothing 
was at fault except the methods employed. Plenty had 
induced carelessness. Each recurrent season of clear 
skies and genial airs, long continued, had made winter 
be regarded as of small account, and great preparations 
for winter needless. An ordered rotation of crops 
could be dispensed with : indeed such methods would 



8 Statement of Richard Parkinson 

have retarded the settlement of the country. Condi- 
tions have become complex and the land has responded. 
In the few notes appended will be found items relative 
to the factors of the matter at that time. 

Alfred J. Morrison. 



STATEMENT OF RICHARD PARKINSON 

I. 

It may be proper to explain what was the cause of 
my going to America. 

During the interval my Experienced Farmer was 
printing, I had much time to spend in London; and 
having the honor of being acquainted with Sir John 
Sinclair, who was then President of the Board of Agri- 
culture, I frequently had occasion to consult that 
gentleman. General Washington had at that time sent 
over to Sir John proposals for letting his Mount Vernon 
estate to English or Scotch farmers/ This being made 
known to me, I thought myself almost possessed of a 
real treasure, in having the honour to be introduced to 
so great a man as General Washington (himself a great 
enthusiast for farming) , and to the rich soils of 
America. With all these encouragements, therefore, 
having got the books printed, and upwards of five 
hundred subscribers to the work (of the most respectable 
gentlemen in England), as a recommendation to the 



lo Statement of Richard Parkinson 

gentlemen in America, I speculated to make a rapid 
fortune. As General Washington had sent over a plan 
of Mount Vernon, divided into distinct farms, I pitched 
on one of twelve hundred acres of land; the rent twenty- 
two shillings per acre, or so much in produce delivered 
to him at a market price; ^ to have a power of viewing 
the farm before accepting it. This, with the view of 
printing my Experienced Farmer in America, and of 
taking over race-horses, cattle, and hogs, in the ship, 
altogether seemed a most favourable prospect. 

With these expectations I went to Liverpool; and 
employed brokers to charter a ship, which cost me eight 
hundred and fifty pounds. I then bought the famous 
race-horses Phenomenon and Cardinal Puff, two blood 
stallions; ten blood mares, and four more blood stal- 
lions; a bull and a cow of the Roolright kind, a bull and 
a cow of the North Devon, a bull and a cow of the no- 
horned Yorkshire kind, a cow (with two calves, and in 
calf again) of the Holderness kind; and five boar and 
seven sow pigs, of four different kinds. These things 
being all put on board, I followed them, with my family 
— which consisted of seven, besides two servants to take 
care of the horses, cattle, &c. 



Statement of Richard Parkinson ii 

The first disagreeable thing which occurred was, the 
captain found his ship improperly loaded; she wanted 
ballast : we were, therefore, stopped fourteen days to get 
ballast, — a delay which injured our horses very much, 
besides wasting our water and other provisions. One 
man now became sick, and we sent him back. No 
sooner had we got to sea, than one of the king's boats 
boarded us, and pressed our other servant: then I had 
sixteen horses, nine cattle, and thirteen pigs, to feed and 
pump water for, to clean the dirt from, &c. ; with the 
assistance of one son, only twelve years of age : my other 
son and the rest of the family were all sick. We were 
twelve weeks in our passage, and in that time lost eleven 
horses, in which number was Phenomenon; the cattle 
and eleven hogs arrived safe. 

The speculation of the books answered very well; as 
also did the horses, cattle, and hogs, beyond my ex- 
pectation : had it not been for the great loss in my 
horses in going over, the whole of my venture would 
have proved very profitable. But the wonderful disap- 
pointment I met with in the barrenness of the land was 
beyond any description. Would General Washington 
have given me the twelve hundred acres, I would not 



12 Statement of Richard Parkinson 

have accepted it, to have been confined to live in that 
country; and to convince the General of the cause of my 
determination, I was compelled to treat him with a great 
deal of frankness. 



II. 



I sailed from Liverpool, September 3d, 1798; and 
after a very long and bad passage, arrived at Norfolk 
in Virginia, on the nth of November. During my 
stay of four days in this town, I met with many English 
gentlemen; and was very pleasantly treated, — particu- 
larly by Mr. Cox, a gentleman from Derbyshire. When 
I was first introduced here, the conversation, as the com- 
pany were seated at dinner, was on politics; and the 
Englishmen were all for England, and great supporters 
of the crown and its dignity. Mr. Cox being in the 
chair, the King of England was the first health, and Mr. 
Pitt next. 

After dinner was over, I began to inquire for some 
hay for my horses and cattle ; but was told there was no 



Statement of Richard Parkinson 13 

such thing. I was astonished to find in so large a town, 
where a great number of horses, mules, and cows, were 
kept, no hay, and in the month of November, too. The 
people seemed as much surprised at my asking for hay 
as I was at there being none: and well they might; for 
when I walked out Into the ground, I saw no such thing 
as grass growing, nor any sort of green herb. This to 
me, as an Englishman, was a very unusual spectacle ; to 
see land without something upon It: and not a little 
mortifying, to one who had been tempted to believe It to 
be (as they term it) the best land in the world. I 
knew that if all their land was like that, a man could 
not live In plenty and splendor from the produce of such 
crops as It would bring. 

It was natural for me now to inquire, what they kept 
their cows and horses on during the winter. They told 
me — their horses on blades, and their cows on slops. 
I neither knew what blades nor slops were. The 
people seemed to laugh at me for my Inquiry; as by this 
time they had learnt that I was the English farmer who 
had come over with a quantity of horses, bulls, cows, 
hogs, and dogs, and taken a farm of General Washing- 
ton at Mount- Vernon, I have reason to say, indeed. 



14 Statement of Richard Parkinson 

I was not a fit man to farm in their country; which I 
heard said repeatedly, both at that time and afterwards 
during my stay in America. This I knew to be true: 
nor is any Englishman: — it does not suit very well to 
take anything from rich land to poor. 

Now to return to the slops and blades. — The latter 
proved to be the blades and tops of Indian corn: and 
the slops were the same that are put into the swill-tub 
in England, and given to hogs. 

When I got these blades, my horses were frightened 
at them ; for they rattle much, having the same appear- 
ance as our dry flag-leaves in England. From their de- 
lightful smell, however, the horses began to eat them; 
and very good they are : but I had only forty pounds for 
thirteen horses, bulls, and cows; and this was all I could 
procure in the town of Norfolk, where there appeared 
to be a great deal of shipping and trade. I, therefore, 
rose early in the morning, and walked out along the road 
which I was told was the most likely for meeting the 
carts coming with them to market. I found several 
people on the road with the same intent. With one of 
these persons I formed an agreement to buy a cart-load 
betwixt us : and I stood marketman, and bought that 



Statement of Richard Parkinson 15 

quantity, which consisted of four hundred bundles, or 
four hundred pounds (to be either weighed or counted, 
which I pleased). My promised partner In this busi- 
ness, however, deceived me, and did not accept his 
share; therefore, the whole cart-load became mine. 
Being told by the captain that we should sail the next 
morning, and he expected to be at Mount- Vernon in 
eleven hours, the quantity was more than I wished for. 
But It proved lucky: as we did not sail until the Tues- 
day, which was an interval of four days instead of two. 



III. 

The cause of our putting into Norfolk was, that when 
we were about thirty miles south-west of Norfolk, lying 
at anchor, a gale of wind came on and did the vessel 
some damage, which we were obliged to put in to repair. 
On Tuesday morning we set sail: and In nine days 
reached Mount- Vernon, instead of eleven hours; having 
head-winds or calms all the passage. 

About thirty miles down the river Potomac, a gentle- 
man, of the name of Grimes, came up to us in his own 



1 6 Statement of Richard Parkinson 

boat. He came aboard, and behaved very politely to 
me : and It being near dinner-time, he would have me go 
ashore and dine with him ; which I did. He gave me 
some grape-juice to drink, which he called Port wine, 
and entertained me with saying he made It himself: It 
was not to my taste equal to our Port in England, nor 
even strong beer; but a hearty welcome makes every- 
thing pleasant, and this he most cheerfully gave me. 

In two days after we left this place, we came in 
sight of Mount-Vernon ; but in all the way up the river, 
I did not see any green fields. The country had to me 
a most barren appearance. There were none but snake- 
fences; which are rails laid with the ends of one upon 
another, from eight to sixteen in number in one length. 
The surface of the earth looked like a yellow-washed 
wall; for it had been a very dry summer; and there was 
not anything that I could see green; except the pine 
trees in the woods, and the cedars, which made a truly 
picturesque view as we sailed up the Potomac. It is 
indeed a most beautiful river. 

When we arrived at Mount-Vernon, I found that 
General Washington was at Philadelphia ; but his stew- 
ard had orders from the General to receive me and my 



Statement of Richard Parkinson 17 

family, with all the horses, cattle, &c. which I had on 
board. A boat was therefore got ready for landing 
them; but that could not be done, as the ship must be 
cleared out at some port before anything was moved: 
so, after looking about a few minutes at Mount- Vernon, 
I returned to the ship, and we began to make way for 
Alexandria. We were two days In going this small 
distance, which is only nine miles. 

The next day we landed at Alexandria. General 
Washington's steward had recommended me to the inn 
kept by Mr. Gadsby, an Englishman.^ Here the stables 
were floored with boards ; for in many parts of America, 
as there is not straw enough produced to litter the horses 
with, this is the practice. We put our horses, cattle, 
pigs, &c. into these rooms. The charges were very 
high; and in about twenty-one days our bill amounted to 
seventy pounds currency : we had moved our horses and 
cattle some days before, or it would have been much 
more. I had repeatedly invitations to buy lands, or take 
farms ; but my reply was, that I wanted only iorty acres, 
or between that quantity- and a hundred. At this the 
people were amazed : for having heard that I had agreed 
with General Washington for twelve hundred acres, and 



1 8 Statement of Richard Parkinson 

now did not like it, they thought I was mad. Great 
numbers of them came to see my live stock. They 
wanted to give me land for them : but I was not so fond 
of the land as they expected; I did not think any I had 
seen worth having; for by this time I had learnt the 
price of labour, and likewise what was the produce. 

When I had been about seven days at Alexandria, I 
hired a horse and went to Mount- Vernon, to view my 
intended farm ; of which General Washington had given 
me a plan, and a report along with it — the rent being 
fixed at eighteen hundred bushels of wheat for twelve 
hundred acres, or money according to the price of that 
grain * * * I viewed the whole of the cultivated estate 
— about three thousand acres; and afterward dined 
with Mrs. Washington and the family. Here I met a 
Doctor Thornton, who is a very pleasant agreeable man, 
and his lady; with a Mr. Peters and his lady, who was 
a grand-daughter of Mrs. Washington. Doctor Thorn- 
ton living at the city of Washington, he gave me an 
invitation to visit him there : he was one of the commis- 
sioners of the city. I slept at Mount-Vernon, and ex- 
perienced a very kind and comfortable reception; but 
did not like the land at all. 



Statement of Richard Parkinson 19 

Having got my horses, cattle, hogs, &c. fixed, and 
my wife and family in lodgings, I began to look out for 
some place to settle in; and clearly seeing that farming 
would not do on any of the soils I had seen, and Colonel 
Lyles [of Maryland] being a friendly, creditable, well- 
informed man, and a man of property, I advised with 
him on every occasion. We had an invitation to dine 
with Doctor Thornton : and the Doctor having a public 
dinner on that day, I got introduced to many respectable 
characters; and among the rest to Mr. Law, a gentleman 
married to the grand-daughter of Mrs. Washington. 
Mr. Law is an Englishman, and brother to Lord Ellen- 
borough. He gave Colonel Lyles and myself an invi- 
tation to go to sleep at his house ; but we were prevented 
by General Washington coming to sleep there that night, 
and Colonel Lear, his secretary. I had, however, the 
gratification to be introduced to the General; and 
Colonel Lyles being a neighbour and a particular ac- 
quaintance of his, a most pleasing evening I spent. The 
General was quite sociable, and received me very kindly. 
After supper, at nine o'clock, the General went to bed 
as that was his hour; for the supper in most houses being 
tea, and some broiled fish, sausages, steaks, &c. it is gen- 



20 Statement of Richard Parkinson 

erally introduced between six and seven o'cloclc, which 
was done that evening. Doctor Thornton, Colonel 
Lyles, Mrs. Law, and myself, sat some hours after; and 
the Colonel and I went to sleep at a tavern in the city, 
which was kept by an Englishman named Tunnercliffe. 
We were asked the next morning to breakfast at Mr. 
Law's, with the General; which we did: and the Gen- 
eral gave me a most kind invitation to go to see him in a 
few days. After breakfast, he set off in his carriage to 
Mount-Vernon. 

Mr. Law having speculated largely in city lots (viz. 
of the intended new federal city, as it was called, of 
Washington)^ he offered to let Colonel Lyles and me 
have any lot we should choose, at the price it cost him, 
and to leave the money on common interest for any time 
we should mention. We looked out a lot and made a 
conditional bargain. I was to make an estimate and 
plan; which I did. But the expenses of building I 
found very high; nor did I like the appearance of the 
place at all. I began to think that it was too young a 
city for a brewery, there not being above three hundred 
houses; nor could I find that there was another man of 
any considerable moneyed property in the city, besides 



Statement of Richard Parkinson 21 

Mr. Law. I thought too that, water being the usual 
drink of the country, there was very little probability of 
that custom changing for some time; and especially 
while they were employed in building houses, paving 
streets, &c. I therefore made known these sentiments 
to Colonel Lyles; and we dropped that scheme. Indeed, 
I began to think of coming to England again. 

After we had parted with the General, and viewed the 
lot, we returned to the tavern : where we found a gentle- 
man from Washington county [Maryland], General 
Sprigg, who was in search of me to buy some of the 
cattle, or all of them, and the hogs; which he said were 
the best he had ever seen come from England, though 
he had some himself, and had seen a great many. He 
offered me a very good price for some of them. 

I spent the day with General Sprigg at George Town, 
which joins to the city; and supped with him, in a 
tavern, on their famous canvas-back ducks, the flesh of 
which is in my opinion superior to the woodcock in 
England. These ducks are to be found only in two 
rivers in America, the Potomac and the Susquehannah, 
which seems a very odd circumstance ; and in these rivers 
there are thousands of them. I returned, next morning. 



22 Statement of Richard Parkinson 

to Alexandria; and in a day or two afterward went to 
see General Washington. I spent a very pleasant day 
in the house, as the weather was so severe that there 
were no farming objects to see, the ground being covered 
with snow. The General wished me to stay all night; 
but having some other engagements, I declined his kind 
offer. He sent Colonel Lear out after I had parted 
with him, to ask me if I wanted any money; which I 
gladly accepted. 



From the many civilities I had received in the town 
of Baltimore, I began to have a respect for it; and 
General Washington having in a most friendly manner 
given me his opinion of the whole country, so that I 
might know how to situate myself, he had told me 
Baltimore was and would be the risingest town in 
America, except the federal city. But there being many 
things previously necessary, to make the produce get 
conveyed to the federal city, that now in greatest part 
goes to Baltimore — such as navigable cuts, turnpike- 
roads, &c. — I had made up my mind to settle near Balti- 
more; thinking that as I was in America, and had got 



Statement of Richard Parkinson 23 

a large subscription to my intended treatise, a farm 
would employ my family, and improve my own ideas — 
I knew that situation was a great point in any place; 
and especially where labour Is so high, and Indeed, in 
some measure, scarcely to be obtained. The General 
told me, Philadelphia would decline; but New-York 
would always maintain an eminent commercial rank, 
from its position — the frost not stopping the navigation 
so early, and sometimes not at all * * 

On reaching Baltimore, I engaged for the farm at 
Orange Hill, for three hundred pounds per year cur- 
rency. This farm was three miles from Baltimore. 
There were only two hundred acres of cleared land; 
the remainder for fire and fences. I do not think that 
in any part of England, such poor land would let for 
half the sum; indeed I do not suppose it would let at 
all : but I know no such land here ; for our land generally 
grows something. I then went to Mount Vernon, and 
told General Washington what I had seen; sold my 
cattle, horses, hogs, &c. (General Sprigg becoming a 
great purchaser of cattle and hogs which he values 
much;) and brought my family to Orange Hill, — where 
I began my farming. 



24 Statement of Richard Parkinson 

IV. 

Although the reader may think my calculations low 
on American produce, he may see, in the letters pub- 
lished by Arthur Young, Esq, and Sir J. Sinclair, that 
General Washington's calculation on the average of the 
crops in Virginia is no more than eight bushels per 
acre : '' and it is not to be supposed that General Wash- 
ington would state them at the lowest; as he frequently 
sent proposals to England, to let his farms to English 
or Scotch farmers : his own opinion on the American 
soils was, that the small produce was in consequence of 
a want of cultivation ^ * * 

I surprised the General very much : and Colonel Lear 
was present, who had been in England; and he men- 
tioned his having been with Mr. Young, who, he said, 
called him a fool for being in trade with so much land. 
The Colonel replied, that if he had his land to till, it 
would make a fool of him. I told the General my 
father's wool on his farm, part of it poor land, averaged 
nine pounds a fleece of eleven hundred sheep upon five 
hundred acres of land — and some part of it two shillings 
and six-pence per acre; and his would not average more 



Statement of Richard Parkinson z; 

than three pounds a fleece,^ on three thousand acres 
with one hundred sheep. I have heard say, that Colonel 
Lear remarked, that he never knew any man speak with 
so much candour to the General as I did * * 

I think a large number of negroes to require as severe 
discipline as a company of soldiers : and that may be one 
and the great cause why General Washington managed 
his negroes better than any other man, he being brought 
up to the army, and by nature industrious beyond any 
description, and in regularity the same. There are 
several anecdotes related of him for being methodical. 
I was told by General Stone [of Maryland] that he was 
travelling with his family in his carriage across the 
country, and arriving at a ferry belonging to General 
Washington, he offered the ferryman a moidore. The 
man said, " I cannot take it." The General asked, 
" Why John? " He replied, " I am only a servant to 
General Washington; and I have no weights to weigh 
it with: and the General will weigh it: and if it should 
not be weight, he will not only make me the loser, but he 
will be angry with me " — " Well, John, you must take 
it; and I will lose three pence in its \-alue: " the ferry- 
man did so; and he carried it to General Washington 



26 Statement of Richard Parkinson 

on the Saturday night following. The General weighed 
it; and it was not weight: it wanted three half-pence: 
General Washington carefully lapped up the three half- 
pence in a piece of paper, and directed it to General 
Stone, which he received from the ferryman, on his re- 
turn. General Stone told me another of his regularities, 
that, during the time he was engaged in the army in the 
America war, and from home, he had a plasterer from 
Baltimore, to plaster a room for him; and the room was 
measured, and the plasterer's demand paid by the stew- 
ard. When the General returned home, he measured 
the room, and found the work to come to less by fifteen 
shillings than the man had received. Some time after 
the plasterer died ; and the widow married another man, 
who advertised in the newspapers to receive all and pay 
all due to or by her former husband. The General, 
seeing the paper, made a demand of the fifteen shillings, 
and received them * * It was always his custom, when 
he travelled, to pay as much for his servant's breakfast, 
dinner, or supper, as for his own. I was told this by the 
keeper of a tavern, where the General breakfasted; and 
he made the bill three shillings and nine pence for the 
master's breakfast, and three shillings the servant's. 



Statement of Richard Parkinson 27 

The General sent for the tavern-keeper into the room, 
and desired he would make the same charge for his 
servants as for himself, for he doubted not that they 
had eaten as much. This shews he was as correct in 
paying as in receiving. 

I one day heard General Ridgely [of Maryland] 
speaking at his table to an officer on the subject of his 
going to review the soldiers [militia] ; he said that they 
sat down during the time that he was reviewing them : 
the officer told him it was impossible to make them do 
otherwise ; but I think to the contrary. They did not 
act so before General Washington; but by nature he 
was a great monarch, and (as it is termed in general 
conversation) infringed more on the liberties of the 
subject than any other man ever did, as is well known 
from several instances in his life. A foot-path would 
not be broken if all men of power were hke him. I 
have been told by more than one of his stewards, that 
if any man were ever seen on his extensive plantations, 
out of the path or road, he would send some person to 
ask his business, and order him off, if he could not give 
a satisfactory reason for his being there. And since 
he could preserve such an authority in that rude un- 



28 Statement of Richard Parkinson 

settled country, as to the regulations respecting the 
taking of fruit in what they term a friendly manner, 
without any leave or permission, it shewed him to have 
superior power to the rest of mankind. His laws were 
peremptory in all his family concerns; and doubtless 
that was the most proper method for the comfort and 
happiness of his people. 

It may be worthy the reader's notice to observe what 
regularity does ; since there cannot be any other particu- 
lar reason given for General Washington's superior 
powers, than his correctness, that made him able to 
govern that wild country: for it was the opinion of many 
of his most intimate friends, that his intellects were not 
brighter than those of many other men. To me he 
appeared a mild friendly man, in company rather re- 
served, in private speaking with candour. His be- 
haviour to me was such that I shall ever revere his name. 

General Washington lived a great man, and died the 
same. He rode into his plantation in the fore part of 
the day, came home, and died about eleven o'clock at 
night [of the next day]. I am of the opinion that the 
General never knowingly did anything wrong, but did 
to all men as he would they should do to him. 



NOTES 

"Laudato ingentia rura; 
Exiguum colito." 

(i) Cf. Washington to Sir John Sinclair, Bart., 
20th Feby, 1796 (Philadelphia) : — " I have taken the 
liberty to enclose you the copy of a notification which I 
have published in some of the gazettes of the United 
States; that in case any farmers answering the descrip- 
tions therein contained are about to transplant them- 
selves, to whom you might be inclined to give the in- 
formation, that you may have it in your power to do so." 
p. 35, Part 2, Letters on Agriculture from His Excel- 
lency George Washington, President of the United 
States, to Arthur Young, Esq., F. R. S. and Sir John 
Sinclair, Bart., M. P. With Statistical Tables and Re- 
marks by Thomas Jefferson, Richard Peters &' Other 
Gentlemen, on the Economy &' Management of Farms 
in the United States. Edited by Franklin Knight. 
Washington, 1847. [There was an edition of the Let- 
ters to Arthur Young published at Alexandria in 1803.] 



30 Statement of Richard Parkinson 

(2) Cf. [A] Letters on Agriculture ^c, Part 2, p. 
36 (Washington to Sir John Sinclair, Feb. 20, 1796) : 
— " As wheat is the staple produce of that part of the 
country in which this estate lyes, I shall fix the rent 
therein, at a bushel and half for every acre of arable 
land contained within the lease; — to be discharged in 
case of failure of that crop, at the price the article bears 
in the market. Two or three years ago I sent Mr. 
Young a sketch of these farms, with all the fields, meads 
& lots, with their relative situations, laid down from 
actual surveys." 

[B] Part I, p. 118; Washington to Arthur Young, 
Dec. 12, 1793, (Philadelphia) : — " I would let these 
four farms to four substantial farmers, of wealth and 
strength sufiicient to cultivate them, and who would 
ensure to me the regular payment of the rents, and I 
would give them leases for seven or ten years, at the rate 
of a Spanish milled dollar, or other money current at 
the time, in this country, equivalent thereto, for every 
acre of ploughable or mowable ground, within the in- 
closures of the respective farms, as marked in the plan; 
and would allow the tenants, during that period, to take 
fuel, and use timber from the woodland, to repair the 



Statement of Richard Parkinson 31 

buildings, and to keep the fences in order until live 
fences could be substituted in place of dead ones; but, 
in this case, no sub-tenants would be allowed * * 

River Farm, which is the largest of the four, and 
separated from the others by Little Hunting Creek, con- 
tains twelve hundred and seven acres of ploughable 
land." 

It is difficult to know what Parkinson means by " the 
rent twenty two shillings per acre," even reckoning the 
shilling at currency. Parkinson says (Vol. II, p. 380), 
" A beaver hat costs eight dollars, or three pounds cur- 
rency." Later, he gives the rent as stated in the letter 
to Sir John Sinclair, viz., one and a half bushels of 
wheat per acre. Vol. II, p. 455, Parkinson speaks of 
wheat selling at that time at eleven shillings. Wheat 
was high then. In 1795 Thomas Jefferson sold his 
wheat crop at $2.50 a bushel (La Rochefoucauld: 
Travels in the United States, London, 1799, Vol. II, 
p. 76) . But the price was not kept at that level. The 
next year flour for export fell off sharply in price — " the 
recent fall in the price of flour has lessened the value of 
horses as well as of all other commodities " (La Roche- 
foucauld, II, 100, §§, Valley of Virginia). Prices flue- 



32 Statement of Richard Parkinson 

tuated so at that time that it is possible a bushel and a 
half of wheat was worth, in 1798, 1799, or 1800, as 
much as twenty-two shillings currency. 

(3) Cf. John Davis: Travels of Four Years and a 
Half in the United States of America during ijgS, 
1799, 1800, 1801, and 1802. London, 1803, p. 223. 
— " It is observable that Gadesby keeps the best house 
of entertainment in the United States." 

(4) Cf. [A] Washington to Arthur Young {Letters 
on Agriculture ^c, p. 51), Hyde-Park, Fairfax 
County, Virginia, Nov. 18, 1791 : — " The average yield 
of wheat [Fairfax county], in the mode of agriculture 
which I have already mentioned was practised with us, 
is about six for one; in fallowed grounds, about eight 
and ten for one. The old tobacco grounds which have 
been well manured, will yield from twenty to thirty 
* * * * The chief grass cultivated here is the timothy; 
the average product of it, per acre, is about a ton. It 
is certainly the best adapted to our hot suns, and particu- 
larly our slovenly management of any grass." 

[B] Arthur Young to Washington, Jan. 15, 1793: — 
" How can Mr. Jefferson produce annually five thou- 
sand bushels of wheat worth 750I., by means of a cattle 



Statement of Richard Parkinson 33 

product of only 125I. ? I do not want to come to 
America to know that this is simply impossible: at the 
commencement of a term it may do, but how long will 
it last? This is the management that gives such pro- 
ducts, as eight and ten bushels an acre. Arable land 
can yield wheat only by means of cattle and sheep; it is 
not dung that is wanted so much as a change of pro- 
ducts: repose under grasses is the soul of management; 
and all cleaning and tillage to be given in the year that 
yields green winter food * * * It is only by increasing 
cattle that you can increase wheat permanently." {Let- 
ters on Agriculture, ^c., p. 98.) 

[C] Thomas Jefferson to Washington, June 28, 
1793: — " Mr. Young must not pronounce too hastily 
on the impossibility of an annual production of 750I. 
worth of wheat, coupled with a cattle product of 125I. 
My object was to state the produce of a good farm, 
under good husbandry, as practised in my part of the 
country. Manure does not enter into this, because we 
can buy an acre of new land cheaper than we can 
manure an old one. Good husbandry with us, consists 
in abandoning Indian corn and tobacco : tending small 
grain, some red clover, fallowing, and endeavouring to 



34 Statement of Richard Parkinson 

have, while the lands are at rest, a spontaneous growth 
of white clover. I do not present this as a culture 
judicious in itself, but as good, in comparison with what 
most people there pursue. Mr. Young has never had 
an opportunity of seeing how slowly the fertility of the 
original soil is exhausted, with moderate management 
of it." {Letters on Agriculture, (^c, p. 103.) 

How mistaken, at that time, any analysis of American 
lands was, from the investor's standpoint merely, ap- 
pears in Arthur Young's statement of the case for a 
farm of 200 acres in Bucks county, Pennsylvania. The 
year's operations, by a strict debit and credit, show a 
loss of $7. Yet it is very probable that the owner of 
the farm began with nothing, and that at the time of 
his death each of his grown children would be as well 
off as he was at the date of the analyzed inventory. 
{Letters on Agriculture, &'c., p. 100.) 

(5) Cf. La Rochefoucauld, Travels in the United 
States, Vol. II, p. 289: — "Colonel Tilghman [of 
Maryland] has a property of three thousand acres of 
land contiguous, of which he uses about one thousand 
for growing corn and maize [i. e. wheat and corn], 
and for meadow ground. He appears to know all the 



Statement of Richard Parkinson 35 

faults of the agriculture of his country, and to be con- 
vinced of the advantage resulting from a change, but he 
sees so many difficulties attending it, that the amend- 
ments he makes are only partial and few, though well 
informed, by the reading of good English books, of all 
that is necessary to be done in order to establish a good 
and rich tillage." 

Cf. also, American Husbandry. By An American, 
London, 1775, p. 144: — "There is no error in hus- 
bandry of more consequence than not being sufficiently 
solicitous about manure; it is this error that makes the 
planters in New Jersey, and all our other colonies, seem 
to have but one object, which is plowing up fresh land. 
The case is, they exhaust the old as fast as possible till 
it will bear nothing more, and then not having manure 
to replenish it, nothing remains but taking new land to 
serve in the same manner." 

(6) Cf. Henry Wansey, Journal of an Excursion to 
the United States of North America in the Summer of 
1794 [June 6]. Salisbury, 1796, p. 124: — "The 
General asked me what I thought of their wool? I in- 
formed him, that I had seen some very good and fine, 
at Hartford, in Connecticut, which they told me came 



36 Statement of Richard Parkinson 

from Georgia; but that in general it was very indiffer- 
ent: yet from the appearance of it, I was convinced it 
was capable of great improvement * * * * His Ex- 
cellency observed, that from his own experience, he 
believed it capable of great improvement, for he had 
been trying some experiments with his own flocks (at 
Mount Vernon) ; that by attending to breed and pastur- 
age, he had so far improved his fleeces; as to have 
encreased them from two to six pounds a-piece; but 
that since, from a multiplicity of other objects to attend 
to, they were, by being neglected, gone back to half their 
weight, being now scarcely three pounds. I took this 
opportunity to offer him one of my publications on the 
Encouragement of Wool, which he seemed with pleasure 
to receive." 

Cf. also, Letters on Agriculture, ^c, p. 25 (1788), 
and Part 2, p. 25 (1794). 



ADDENDUM. 

Richard Parkinson [1748-18 15] was born in 
Lincolnshire, and spent most of his life there. Besides 



Statement of Richard Parkinson 37 

the Experienced Farmer (2 vols.) and the Tour in 
America, Parkinson published several books, — The 
English Practice of Agriculture, Exemplified in the 
Management of a Farm in Ireland, 1806; Practical 
Observations on Gypsum, or Plaister of Paris as a Ma- 
nure, 1808; Treatise on the Breeding and Management 
of Live Stock, 2 vols., 18 10, and descriptions of the 
agriculture of the counties of Huntingdon and Rutland. 

Before settling near Baltimore, Parkinson examined 
many places offered in Maryland, and was at Philadel- 
phia and New York. What he wanted was highly 
improved land near a good market town. He found 
market prices higher at Baltimore than at Philadelphia 
or New York. He says, " I was very much attached 
to Baltimore ; finding that New-York and Philadelphia 
were much cheaper supplied with the land's produce 
than that city: they having great plenty of hay, more 
clover than could be sold, excellent beef, good veal (the 
mutton but middling) , pork very fine, turkeys very fine, 
and all sorts of poultry; vegetables in very great 
plenty * * 

On the first of May, 1799, I entered upon my farm 
at Orange-Hill, three miles from Baltimore. I will 



38 Statement of Richard Parkinson 

explain why I gave so great a rent for this, after having 
had all the offers which I have mentioned. 

I thought nothing in the farming-line likely to be 
profitable, except the selling of milk, and what in that 
country is called truck, — which is garden produce, fruits, 
&c. ; finding labour so very dear, and scarcely to be had 
at all, except by the keeping of slaves, which I did not 
like. The price of milk being six pence to eight pence 
per quart, seemed to me sure of paying well * * * 
But I found great trouble in this business." [Vol. I, 
pp. 85, 161-162.] 



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